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Robert Black

@hurricanexyz.bsky.social

14K followers 390 following 50K posts

Constitutional scholar, general law nerd, Izzet mage, bear lover, Mets fan. Trans rights are constitutional rights! Uphold Yang Wenli Thought He/him https://www.eveningconstitutional.net

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · Jun 3

I have an announcement!!

Introducing a new project at The Evening Constitutional: Constitutional Perspectives!

This is a series of explanatory essays aiming to be of use for readers with any level of prior knowledge of constitutional law

eveningconstitutional.net/introducing-...

Introducing: Constitutional Perspectives!

Announcing a new project here at The Evening Constitutional! As I wrote shortly after last November's election, one of my ambitions for this site is to create a library of materials explaining Americ...

eveningconstitutional.net

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 9h

My wild, out-there idea is go FULL House of Lords. Prominent people from all walks of American society can be given a lifetime appointment. The Senate can advise on legislation, hold committee hearings, etc. to get the benefit of their wisdom. BUT no actual hard power.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 9h

Oh yeah I don't disagree lol, I'm just saying like, this is why WWI still happened!

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 9h

None of the events described above touch on the Continent lol

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 12h

No, the difference between a 1982 appointee and a 2005 appointee (oldest of the Republicans except for Thomas, who's his own, uhhh, Thing) is extremely salient for the point I'm making

Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 12h

You could have the amendment say like, whereas he was a rebel and a traitor and thereby forbidden to hold office under this Constitution...

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 12h

They weren't appointed in 1982 though

Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 12h

Interesting juxtaposition of holy and unholy tbh

Like, it's precisely the unholy that creates the holy?

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 12h

Just how the Brewers drew it up, three solo home runs

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 12h

Super duper ideally you'd annul his entire presidency by constitutional amendment. Void ab initio under Section Three would also be nice though.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 12h

No, I do not lol. But the conversations have been borderline interesting.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 12h

Oh, yeah, although in my experience it's often the Circuit as a whole that takes a case en banc, not just the panel (not that the latter is unheard of)

Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

It would take some doing!!

Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

The 1961 teams (Rangers and Angels) have never met in October. Neither the Padres nor the Royals (the other '69 teams) have met any of their cohort. And then obviously there's never been a Marlins/Rockies series, let alone a Rays/Diamondbacks one.

Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Phillies and Giants (1883) have only met once, the 2010 NLCS.

Then you jump all the way to the 1986 NLCS between the Mets and Astros (1962)

The Nationals and Brewers met for the 2019 Wild Card game, and the Jays and Mariners already played in the 2022 Wild Card round.

That's it.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

1970, 1972, 1975, 1979. And then also 1990. And the 2013 Wild Card game.

That's six meetings. All other pairings have seven total (prior to the upcoming ALCS).

Braves and Cubs (1876) met in the 1998 and 2003 NLDS. Cardinals (the other 1882) played the Pirates in the 2013 NLDS.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Yep, that was also the first one that occurred to me. I believe that is the only other time that two post-1901 teams of the same vintage have met in a Division Series or later!

Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

(Why exclude 1901? Because that's when the eight original American League teams all came into the league at once. They've met lots of times. That's boring.)

So the big exception is that the Reds and the Pirates both date to 1882, and they met in the NLCS in the 1970s... a lot

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Yeah he's been right on the edge for me for a while.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Bit of random curiosity: so I saw someone mention that this upcoming ALCS is going to see the two 1977 expansion teams meet

So I wondered, how often do two teams of the same vintage (not 1901) meet in the postseason?

Answer: not that often... with one big exception

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Sort of! Although I don't envision the Supreme Court Justices being members of/chosen from the Nat'l Court of Appeals. Which, itself, can be very large and have panels and all that.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Sure is!

Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

It's like half the motivation for the whole thing. Cert-as-is clearly isn't working. But appeal as of right is utterly unworkable. Not a lot of possible ways to square that circle.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Mmm, sure. The basic system is so familiar at this point that it's a little difficult to imagine something different.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Yeah, essentially. National Court of Appeals would handle the routine circuit split stuff, and IT would control the cert process to the Supreme Court, at least in the normal course of things.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Yeah. I'm suggesting that as one direction you could evolve the Senate in. Basically keep its current form, just defang it a la the House of Lords.

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

My main "reorganize the circuit courts" Take is that I want a National Court of Appeals that sits between the circuits and the Supreme Court lol, but that's a separate issue

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Like, you mean the boundaries between 'em?

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

"Senator Emeritus" is an extremely funny phrase, linguistically!

Arguably the role you have in mind is just..... Senator

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Ah, there's the excuse to block that borderline troll conservative guy I keep having insufferable arguments with I've been waiting for (he insulted the intelligence of someone in the conversation, sorry zero tolerance for that shit)

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 13h

Of course it does, in so many words lol. Republican form of government, due process of law.

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